2018 Grammys: Hamptonites Win One Award, One Consolation Puppy

The 2018 Grammys were full of surprises, especially for East End nominees. East Hampton’s Jay-Z had an impressive eight nominations, more than any other artist this year, but went home empty-handed, losing all of his categories to either Bruno Mars or Kendrick Lamar. Even though Jay-Z lost out this year, he’s still the winner of a lofty 21 Grammys over the course of his career, compared to Mars’ 11 and Lamar’s 12.

Sag Harbor icon Billy Joel won the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for contributing a new duet version of the 1976 “New York State of Mind” to Tony Bennett Celebrates 90. Tony Bennett and all the other artists who collaborated on the tribute also won Grammys for the album, including Hamptons visitor Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and “Montauk” singer and Hamptons fan Rufus Wainwright.

However, Joel and Wainwright weren’t the only winner hailing from the East End last night, Amagansett’s Jerry Seinfeld won something even better than a Grammy—a consolation puppy. Host James Corden felt bad for the nominees who lost the Grammy for Best Comedy Album to Dave Chapelle, so he gave them each a bundle of fur to ease the pain.

“Now, I should say to all the nominees this evening who are not going home with a Grammy; I don’t want anyone to be upset tonight, so the good news is nobody goes home empty-handed because all night we will be handing out consolation puppies, so if you didn’t get a Grammy, you get a puppy,” the Late Late Show comedian joked, following with a bit of cautionary advice for Seinfeld. “I should tell you Jerry, be careful. She’s a biter. Okay? So watch that.”

The surprises didn’t end there though. While not a nominee herself, Hamptons regular Hillary Clinton made a shocking “appearance” at the Grammys with a pre-recorded sketch of her reading an excerpt from Michael Wolff’s explosive tell-all book about Donald Trump‘s White House, Fire and Fury. In the video, several celebrities including John Legend, Cardi B, DJ Khaled, Snoop Dogg and Cher audition alongside Clinton to determine who will be the narrator of the Fire and Fury audio book.

Clinton’s audition monologue details President Trump’s completely logical reasoning for preferring McDonald’s over more upscale eateries: “He had a longtime fear of being poisoned, one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald’s. Nobody knew he was coming, and the food was safely pre-made.”

The video, posted to YouTube by The Late Late Show with James Corden, is currently #1 on Trending, at the time of this post.